Contact with Nature and Health Research
Research on the benefits of contact with nature for mental health and wellbeing is significant, particularly in Australian contexts, where foundational reviews and studies emphasise nature's role in promoting holistic health—psychological, emotional, spiritual, and physical.
Spending time in parks lowers blood pressure, reduces stress, boosts mood, improves physical fitness, and enhances overall wellbeing with 120 minutes weekly in nature yielding optimal outcomes.
Contact with nature enhances mental health through mechanisms like stress reduction, attention restoration, and increased positive affect, leading to lower anxiety, depression, and improved cognitive function.
Key Australian Research
The Healthy Parks, Healthy People review (2002) (1) synthesises evidence showing nature contact prevents mental ill-health, promotes wellbeing, and addresses psychological, emotional, and spiritual needs.
The Healthy Nature Healthy People paper (2005) (2) indicates contact with nature serves as a powerful yet under-utilised upstream health promotion intervention for populations, supported by empirical, theoretical, and anecdotal evidence of its benefits for physical and mental well-being.
The Health and Well-being Naturally paper (2006) (3) highlights contact with nature as a simple, accessible way to improve health at every stage — from prevention and early help, right through to treatment and long-term care.
The Beyond Blue to Green review (2010) (4) by Beyond Blue presents evidence showing that time in green spaces, parks, gardening, ecotherapy, and activities with animals helps prevent and manage depression, anxiety, and stress.
Key research Australian reviews and studies include:
Research over recent decades shows strong positive links between nature-based interventions (NBIs) and improved mental health and wellbeing (6). These programs deliver benefits like reduced loneliness, better overall mental health, increased resilience, and enhanced wellbeing (7).
Key organisations and countries support NBIs:
The World Health Organisation (WHO) and Black Dog Institute recommend adopting nature-based interventions for mental health support (7).
Countries like the United Kingdom (UK), United States (US), and Japan have already integrated them into public health systems (7, 8).
In Australia, NBIs — including Green Social Prescribing (GSP) programs — are emerging and being researched, with studies exploring how to design and implement them effectively within health services (9, 10). Recent developments (as of 2025) include efforts to build consensus-based frameworks for nature prescribing in Australian healthcare, showing growing interest and potential for broader adoption.
Nature Rx or Nature Prescription involves a health professional (such as a GP) recommending time in nature to benefit health.
Rx serves as a complementary treatment to enhance overall wellbeing, quality of life, and support sustainable health care, often alongside conventional medical approaches.
A key systematic literature review and meta-analysis published in The Lancet Planetary Health Journal here found that nature prescriptions reduced blood pressure, lower depression and anxiety scores and increased physical activity levels.
These outcomes highlight nature's role in promoting physical and mental health.
Nature based interventions (NBIs), nature prescriptions and green social prescribing (GSP)
Strong Evidence from the UK
A major UK evaluation of the Preventing and Tackling Mental Ill Health through Green Social Prescribing Project found:
Statistically significant improvements in participants' wellbeing, including higher happiness, life satisfaction, and sense that life is worthwhile.
Reductions in anxiety and depression (11).
The report also highlighted that nature-based activities are cost-efficient, delivering an estimated social return of £1.88 for every £1 invested — making them a valuable way to support people across a wide range of mental health needs (11).
These approaches — such as guided nature walks, gardening, forest therapy, or "green prescriptions" from healthcare providers — offer accessible, evidence-backed ways to boost mental health naturally.
In short: Nature-based interventions are a promising, growing field — backed by global recommendations and strong results from programs like the UK's GSP project. They're cost-effective, holistic, and increasingly relevant in Australia too. Spending time in nature isn't just relaxing — it's good medicine for the mind!
“Recreation in nature provides physical activity opportunities, and can lead to both better physical and mental health”.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2022
Health Parks Healthy People
Healthy Parks Healthy People is a global movement and framework recognising the strong link between nature's health and human wellbeing, promoting parks as vital resources for physical, mental, and social health through activities like walking, reducing stress, and fostering community connection.
Started by Parks Victoria in 2000, Healthy Parks Healthy People is based on four key principles:
The wellbeing of all societies depends on healthy ecosystems
Parks nurture healthy ecosystems
Contact with nature is essential for improving emotional, physical and spiritual health and wellbeing
Parks are fundamental to economic growth and to vibrant and healthy communities
Maller C, Townsend M, Brown P, St Leger L. Healthy parks, healthy people: the health benefits of contact with nature in a park context: a review of current literature. Melbourne: Deakin University; 2002.
Maller C, Townsend M, Pryor A, Brown P, St Leger L. Healthy nature healthy people: ‘contact with nature’ as an upstream health promotion intervention for populations. Health Promot Int. 2006;21(1):45-54. doi:10.1093/heapro/dai032
Pryor A, Townsend M, Maller C, Field K. Health and well-being naturally: 'contact with nature' in health promotion for targeted individuals, communities and populations. Health Promot J Austr. 2006;17(2):114-23. doi:10.1071/HE06114
Townsend M, Weerasuriya R. Beyond blue to green: the benefits of contact with nature for mental health and well-being. Melbourne: Beyond Blue Limited; 2010. Available from: http://www.hphpcentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/beyondblue_togreen.pdf
Wortzel JD, Hondros-McCarthy I, Kovan SK, Peng C. Nature nurtures: evidence for nature’s impact on mental well-being. Psychiatric Times. 2025 Dec 19;42(12). Available from: https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/nature-nurtures-evidence-for-nature-s-impact-on-mental-well-being
Brito H, Brymer E, Araújo D. An ecological dynamics perspective on designing urban nature environments for wellbeing and health-enhancing physical activity. Front Public Health. 2022;10:877208.
Garside R, Lovell R, Husk K, Sowman G, Chapman E. Nature prescribing. BMJ. 2023 Dec 13;383:e075685.
Blackdoggreen. Tame your Mind with Nature. Blackdoggreen; 2022 [cited 2024 Sep 18]. Available from: https://blackdoggreen.com.au/.
Fitzmaurice C. Social prescribing: a new paradigm with additional benefits in rural Australia. Aust J Rural Health. 2022;30(2):298-9.
Tambyah R, Olcoń K, Allan J, Destry P, Astell-Burt T. Mental health clinicians’ perceptions of nature-based interventions within community mental health services: evidence from Australia. BMC Health Serv Res. 2022;22(1):841.
Haywood A, Dayson C, Garside R, Foster A, Lovell B, Husk K, et al. National evaluation of the preventing and tackling mental ill health through green social prescribing project: final report - March 2021 to June 2023.
A recent paper, Nature Nurtures: Evidence for Nature’s Impact on Mental Well-Being (2025) (5) reviews a growing body of evidence showing that access to green and blue spaces significantly reduces stress, improves mood, lowers psychiatric symptoms, protects against the development of disorders, and enhances resilience during crises, while interventions like nature prescriptions, forest bathing, horticultural therapy, and outdoor walks offer promising therapeutic benefits for mental health.